Google AdWords Voucher

As a UK AdWords agency, Google provide us with AdWords vouchers regularly. These voucher codes are typically for £50 or £75 and can be used for new AdWords advertisers as a credit against their Pay per Click costs.

That’s all fine and dandy and it’s great that Google provide new advertisers with a way to try AdWords with some credit to test the water. Unfortunately, for an AdWords agency such as Bold Internet, speaking to new advertisers is not that common. Typically, we are helping existing AdWords account holders with AdWords management, i.e. taking over an existing account and optimising it to help them develop effective AdWords campaigns.

I was at the Google Engage Agency Day in London last Friday and I asked the question about whether there could be a way to help existing advertisers too. Of course, I wasn’t expecting an instant answer but it was reassuring that my peers in the audience didn’t fall off their chairs with laughter!

The gist of my question was this: “Why doesn’t Google incentivise existing AdWords advertisers to work with one of their Certified Partners?”

In my opinion, this falls in to the ‘win-win-win’ category:

• Google retain an advertiser that may otherwise stop using AdWords
• The agency gains a new client
• The advertiser starts to see a positive return on their AdWords investment

I often wonder how many novice AdWords users fall by the wayside because they don’t fully understand how Pay per Click works or the fact they could have professional AdWords account management? My guess is that for every one who is ‘saved’ there are many more who cancel their accounts convinced that AdWords doesn’t work.

I’m sure in the early days of an account being set live that Google could monitor performance and alert the advertiser. The alert system is already in place and could detect certain account aspects, e.g. low click through rate (CTR), no conversion tracking in place, rapid budget depletion, low quality score, etc.

It could then provide a link to the AdWords Certified Partners page, perhaps with two or three agencies local to the advertiser already filtered.

When the advertisers account is linked to one of these agencies and the account is being actively managed (change history already exists), the advertiser could then receive the incentive, e.g. a credit against their next month’s PPC costs.

I don’t know if an idea like this would ever be taken seriously by Google but it would be great if there was a way to proactively find advertisers that are struggling with AdWords and to help them optimise their accounts.

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If you are a UK business and just considering trying AdWords, get in touch. We have a voucher or two to giveaway

Online marketing is a cost-effective way to increase your business and see immediate results. It can be targeted more directly than print advertising, giving you a higher return from your investment.

Online marketing can easily be done in-house by a small business, or it can be outsourced to experts.

Most businesses have websites. Many of them receive a high proportion of their sales or business leads through online sources. If your business is one of them, there are a number of ways you can optimise your online presence.

Social Media

You can use social media (such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) to direct visitors to your site. It can also compliment your other online marketing efforts. Ensure that your website promotes your social media presence, for instance by including a Facebook badge that links to your page, or a ‘Follow’ button that links to your Twitter account. Likewise make sure your social media accounts clearly shows your website address so customers can click through.

Social networks allow you to advertise special offers and promotions, and encourage a two-way flow of information between your business and customers/potential customers. LinkedIn allows you widen your reach with business contacts - it’s like giving out a virtual business card. It also lets you post updates which remind your contacts of the services you offer.

Online Advertising

Google dominates the online advertising market. There are two ways to increase traffic to your website through search engines:

Search Engine Optimisation

By improving your website so it appears higher up the list in relevant searches, you will increase the clicks through to your website. This is known as search engine optimisation (SEO). Although it’s sometimes referred to as a dark art, it’s not that complicated and there are lots of books and websites that take you through the basics. It’s essential to appear on the first page of search results if your site is going to be noticed. If this isn’t happening when you type in some relevant keywords, it’s worth asking a professional to take a look at your website to see what improvements could be made. If your business has little competition then it’s easier to appear higher up the search results list. But if your business operates in a competitive environment (for instance, a hotel in London), then it will take a creative approach to climb the SEO ladder. It’s an ongoing task to keep your site optimised, so it’s important to dedicate regular resources to this.

Google AdWords/Pay per Click (PPC)

You can pay for adverts to appear in prominent positions on the search engine results page to encourage people to visit your website. Your adverts can be carefully targeted to attract only those who are likely to be interested in your service or product. It involves you selecting keywords that apply to your business and bidding on them. If your bid wins, your advert will appear higher up the page on the sponsored links section. Your adverts will also be assessed by Google for their relevancy and quality, so the more successful your adverts, the less you have to pay for keywords to reach the top of the page.

Blog

A blog lets you add fresh content to your website on a regular basis, which is helpful for SEO purposes. It also gives you a space to demonstrate your expertise. Having extra content that is of value to your customers can build relationships, encourage them back to your site and also ensure they stay on your site for longer.

Online Marketing Increases Business

Online advertising is a simple and direct way to draw customers to your website. Getting customers there is only half the battle; once they arrive at your site you need to capture their attention and ensure they follow through your call to action.

Whatever online marketing campaigns you are planning for your small business, it’s essential to write down your SMART objectives and measure the results so that you can evaluate your success.

If you’d like some advice on using SEO and Google AdWords to boost your business, call us without obligation on 01489 578084 where we can have a chat about your business goals and see we can help you achieve them.

Is it necessary to have multiple domain names to help people find your website? The answer is, mostly, no. You may find companies trying to sell them to you, promising to improve your search engine optimisation (SEO). My advice: don’t do it. If in doubt, speak to an expert before wasting you money on something that could damage your SEO, create a lot more work for yourself, and even risks damaging your brand image.

One website keeps things simple. All of your content is in one place and you can invest your time and money into optimising it so it reaches the most customers. Even if you offer a variety of different services there are often ways to integrate them into one site without things getting confusing.

There seems to be a rash of duplicate sites cropping up at the moment, where it appears businesses who don’t fully understand the subject are being encouraged to waste their money.

If you have multiple domains, do you know who actually owns them? Is it you or the company that purchased them for you? Do you understand why you’ve been advised to buy them?

Multiple domains create a lot of work. Duplicate content is a bad thing for SEO. It’s also a bad thing for you; if you make an amend on one website, you need to remember to make it on all of your others.

Some people may buy up domains to prevent their competitor from taking them. This can be a costly and it’s not possible to think up every variation that your competitors might use. Buying up a domain won’t squash the competition; it’s much wiser to invest more into your own website to make it better than your competitor’s site.

Multiple Domains: Confusing Customers

Having more than one website can confuse customers, especially if you operate from one business premises.

Practically, how would you manage two sites promoting exactly the same service? If your second site promoted a different service, do you realistically have the time and money to invest in two lots of SEO? If both sites look the same but have a different brand name, how would you answer your telephone to customers as you wouldn’t know which brand name to use?

We have also seen instances where companies using Pay per Click (PPC) have been advised to use a new domain. The service provider then buy (own) this domain using content from the original. Whilst it may be sound advice to use dedicated landing pages for PPC, using a cloned domain, especially one that is indexable by the search engines, most certainly isn’t good advice.

Multiple Domains Have a Place

When is it ok to have multiple domains? If you operate in overseas markets it can be important to have a local domain. Spellings and words can be altered in the website content as necessary, also having a local domain gives you a better ranking as search engines search out information based on geographical location and language.

You may wish to purchase multiple domains with different prefixes e.g. .co.uk .com .org .org.uk etc., all of which you’d point to your primary site. This is fine and is advisable so that your customers can easily find you no matter how they enter your address.

If you have the budget, then buying the major domain extensions of your core domain to protect your brand can be sensible, but the additional domains should then be set-up as redirects to the original, not duplicated.

In most cases, having multiples domains is a waste of time and money. My advice is to understand what you’re getting into before you agree to anything. If you still aren’t sure whether multiple domains are right for you then give us a call on 01489 578084 for a no obligation chat to find out what impact it could have on your SEO.

Just as you get a handle on personalised search results and privacy issues, Google moves the goal posts. The recent launch of Search plus Your World has transformed the way in which search results are listed. In addition to presenting results that best match your keywords, including content that Google believes to be of interest to you, you will now also find results that have been shared privately with you through sources such as Google+.

As the private data – for instance, an image that may have been shared with you by a friend – appears in amongst the search results, it looks as though it is public data. It throws up a host of new privacy issues about data being made more visible, especially data that was posted a long time ago and has since been forgotten. It also runs the risk of people sharing this data without realising that it was private in the first place.

Google’s view is that a personalised search experience is now the norm. Search results are tailored anyway based on your language, geographical location and search history. This is just taking it to the next step. But is this change really going to improve your search experience, or is it just going to help Google gain a larger share in the social media market?

Search Plus Your World and Social Media

As Twitter and Facebook data isn’t currently included in the ‘World’, how useful is this development actually going to be? To be balanced and fair the system should integrate all social media networks, but at the moment this isn’t possible.

Research shows that when a user carries out a search, they focus on the immediate results. People rarely scroll through numerous pages to find what they’re looking for. By integrating private data into these results it may become harder to find the original content you were searching for.

Opt Out of Search Plus Your World

Google has set this up as an opt out system; you can click a button to see only regular search results. It may have been fairer to users to have an opt in policy but then, perhaps, Google wouldn’t have seen their Google+ usage rocket?

It will be interesting to see how Search plus Your World develops, but whether it has a positive impact on your search experience remains to be seen. What do you think? Will Search plus Your World help or hinder your searching experience?

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Other Views from the World of Search:

http://searchengineland.com/googles-results-get-more-personal-with-search-plus-your-world-107285

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/search-plus-your-world/

http://www.localseoguide.com/googles-search-plus-your-world-say-that-ten-times-fast/

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/twitter-lashes-google-search-changes-005234806.html

http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/8646-google-search-plus-your-world-the-experts-view

Google AdWords is a simple and effective way to increase relevant traffic to your website.

A successful AdWords campaign can increase unique visits to your website and encourage visitors to follow your ‘call to action’. This might be to purchase a product, enquire about a service or sign up to receive your e-newsletter.

Google AdWords: Search and Display

Google AdWords can be used to expand the reach of your website via two routes: Search and Display.

When somebody types a query into a search engine, in addition to the natural search results, there will also be some ‘sponsored’ Google AdWords links on the right of the screen and sometimes at the top of the page. Your ad appears if your chosen keywords match the search words the user has entered.

The Display Network operates in a different way. Google places your advert on its own websites and that of its partners. The websites will be places that your potential customers visit, although there is no guarantee they will be looking for your products or services at the time they visit the site.

For instance, as you search on YouTube for kitchen design ideas, an advert for an online appliance shop may appear at the side of the page. The Display Network still offers a valuable way to connect with new customers, but your marketing approach needs to be different from your ‘search’ advertising.

If you’re new to AdWords, it’s better to turn ‘display’ off until you’ve got to grips with ‘search’ advertising.

Keywords and Quality Scores

You bid for your chosen keywords by setting up a maximum bid per day, or per keyword, via an automated real-time auction. Although the amount you bid on a keyword has a strong bearing on how high you appear on the list, Google also calculates a Quality Score for each of your keywords. This takes into consideration factors including the relevancy of your keywords to your advert text and a user’s search query. Google also calculates how successful your ads have been to date, so if more people click your ad you will find it appearing higher up the list, even if you weren’t the highest bidder for a keyword.

Google carefully monitors relevancy, so being specific with your keyword choice is important. Individual keywords are grouped into two categories by Google: ‘no problems’ and ‘poor’. It’s your aim to use words that come under the ‘no problems’ state, as these help customers find your site and allow you to create successful campaigns that in turn means you pay a lower cost for each click. ‘Poor’ keywords, on the other hand, make it more difficult for people to find you as the words aren’t relevant to potential customers. This may be because they are too general. They are likely to increase your costs, and your advert may not even show up.

Google has a keyword and placement diagnosis tool to help you identify problems with keywords.

Google AdWords Helps You Create Targeted Marketing Campaigns

Google AdWords offers a flexible marketing solution that allows you to create, test, tweak and monitor campaigns. Any company that does business online should consider using Google AdWords.

Setting up your own campaign is simple. Here are a few links to help get you started:

What is Google AdWords? A Guide for Small Business Owners

Google AdWords Advice

Or if you’re considering outsourcing it to a specialist, read about our AdWords management service. For new accounts, we can apply a credit towards your first campaign.

I’ve often heard it mentioned that spending money with Google AdWords will help boost a site’s rankings in the natural search results, i.e. AdWords somehow gives a benefit to SEO.

Whilst I’ve never believed it to be true, it is good never-the-less to hear it straight from Google’s public face, Matt Cutts:

I’m sure conspiracy theorists will still claim that there is a connection between SEO and AdWords but, for the rest of us, hopefully that is one SEO myth that can now be put to bed.

Technology has changed the way we do everything. I haven’t set foot in a supermarket in years, I never travel without checking my plans through Trip Advisor and I do all of my Christmas shopping online. Whether I’m looking to buy a house, get my car fixed or plan a night out with friends, the Internet is the first place I look. I view it on my laptop, my desktop and my mobile, depending on where I am and how much time I have spare.

KPMG recently carried out research with 9,600 consumers aged between 16 and 65, across 31 countries. The results show that, like me, a staggering 77% of British shoppers prefer to buy goods like CDs, DVDs and video games online, which is higher than the global average.

An article on the Business Computing World website suggests that by the end of 2013, one billion people will own a smart phone. Tablets have seen a sharp rise in sales, and in turn desktop and laptop computer sales have stabilised. Technology is making leaps; the question is, is your business keeping up?

A few years ago, it was enough to just have a website. But things have changed. Now almost everybody has a mobile, and a large proportion of people use their mobiles to shop and browse online.

Google is working hard to encourage businesses to make their sites mobile friendly through their GoMo website. They estimate that by 2013, more people will go online on their mobiles than on computers.

Prepare for Technology Advances

Consumers expect a lot – they want a mobile website to load quickly and offer simple navigation. A bad first impression can cost your business money and send customers directly to your competitors.

Social networking is converging with online shopping and research. I use Twitter to ask for product advice from my followers. I chat to businesses on Facebook pages, I look in forums for reviews. Keeping up with technology means following the latest trends and developments taking place in the social networking industry. In turn, this also means keeping up with privacy and data protection laws as this remains a concern for wary consumers who feel they have been let down by a number of high profile sites in the past.

It doesn’t matter if you operate your entire business online, or your website is just a signpost to your premises. If you don’t start thinking seriously about how to keep up with the advances in technology, your business will get left behind.

As Christmas is fast approaching, it seems an ideal time to reflect on how you can use online advertising campaigns to boost your seasonal sales.

Seasons define the sale of many products. Easter eggs replace tinsel on the shelves of supermarkets, just as BBQs are whipped out of stores once the summer holidays are over to make way for Christmas decorations. Buying cycles seem to be getting earlier each year, just as celebrations seem to be getting bigger.

Your business may offer a service or product that naturally fits into a season (for example, a venue that hosts office Christmas parties, or a hotel that caters for family summer holidays), but it’s possible for almost any business to create a seasonal campaign.

Seasons present a great hook – an interior design company could create a ‘new year, new home‘ campaign, or a carpet cleaning company could promote its cleaning service to tie in with spring cleaning season. There are endless opportunities, with plenty of special date-related promotions to consider, from bank holidays to Mother’s Day.

Your seasonal advertising campaigns will only be successful if people know about them, and if they reach your target audience at the right time. Online advertising with Google AdWords is a great way to promote your campaigns, as it provides complete budget control and it can bring instant results. More importantly, you can target your ads so they only appear to people who are likely to buy your product/service.

Seasonal Project Planning

Look at a calendar and plan your seasonal campaigns for the whole year. Whether you want to tie in with specific celebration dates or you choose to run a longer seasonal campaign, it’s important to know what deadlines you’re working towards.

Plan your campaign launch dates and work backwards, creating a list of jobs that need doing before that date, and how long each job will take. It’s essential to plan time to update your website to tie in with your campaign for continuity and brand building.

If you’re looking at running a seasonal campaign and want to find out more about how Google AdWords could be used to boost your seasonal sales then contact Bold Internet today.

You have an excellent website with engaging content and quality images, but what use is it if people can’t find it?

Google AdWords can be used to drive relevant visitors to your site. It’s an excellent marketing tool for small websites, as it can be challenging to incorporate all of your key phrases into your website content.

The Difference Between Search Engine Optimisation and Google AdWords

Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of ensuring your site receives maximum visibility. When users type a list of search words or phrases into a search engine they receive a list of sites that match their query, with the closest match appearing higher up the page. This is known as an ‘organic’ search. Search engines rank websites based on many criteria, including the website content, page titles, headers and links. SEO is a skill that can be mastered by a small business owner, or there are companies specialising in the service.

In addition to the organic search results, you will see ‘sponsored links’ in the right hand side of the screen (and sometimes at the top of the page). These adverts are generated through Google AdWords and are representing businesses like you.

Google AdWords

Google AdWords helps you connect with customers at the valuable moment when they are looking for the services you are offering. You select your own keywords and phrases, and it is ‘Pay per Click’, meaning you only pay when a user clicks through the advert into your site. You set your budgets and your boundaries, and you refine your campaign to ensure your ad achieves its potential.

There is also an option for your ad to appear on the Google Display Network, where your advert is placed across Google programs and partner sites. Your advert would appear on a site that is visited by your potential customers. This could be a forum or a website that relates to your business, for instance. However, the visitors to the site aren’t actively seeking a service as they are during an organic search. This means your marketing approach on the Google Display Network needs to be different, as before you can draw users through to your own site you need to capture their attention and sell your service to them.

With Google AdWords you won’t be tied into a lengthy agreement and there is no minimum spend. The most important thing is to ensure your keywords are correctly targeted as it’s essential to make every click count, as clicks cost money.

Creating a Google AdWords account is the easy part. Getting the best out of your budget – whether large or small – is more difficult. It requires a strategic approach. Even a campaign with a modest budget can reap great rewards if it is carefully managed.

Google AdWords is for small business owners like you. If you aren’t sure where to start then have a look at this earlier blog post Google AdWords Advice or view our AdWords Management page if you are considering outsourcing. For new accounts, we can even apply a credit that can be used to off-set against click costs.

If you’re a business owner in Hampshire and have a website for which you are looking for ways to boost its traffic, it is only natural that you might turn to a local search engine marketing company to help with your online marketing.

But who do you choose? Perhaps you meet someone at a local business event? Ideally, you’d receive a recommendation from a trusted source. Failing that, you might turn to LinkedIn and view search engine marketing providers there and see what kind of testimonials they have.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you check out the credentials of the company or individual offering services.

With a low barrier to entry, it is easy for someone to throw up a web page offering search engine optimisation (SEO) or pay per click (PPC) services. But are they qualified to be offering such a service?

Within Hampshire, there are plenty of qualified, experienced companies who can look after your search marketing requirements in a professional manner.

These are often companies for whom ‘search marketing‘ is their area of expertise and not just an afterthought or bolt-on. Even if Bold Internet isn’t right for you, there are enough professional search marketing companies in Hampshire allowing you to choose a decent service provider rather than just having to make do.

All will have their own unique features such as fee rates, contract terms etc., but share a common factor in that search engine marketing is core to their business.

How do you know what to avoid?

Pay Per Click

When it comes to PPC, and specifically, Google AdWords, the minimum you should expect to see is that either the company is an AdWords Certified Partner or, in the case of an individual consultant or freelancer, an AdWords Qualified Individual.

In both cases, there should be a logo with a link through to a Google page verifying their status. Google even provide Google Partner Search to help you verify or look for someone qualified in your area.

Search Engine Optimisation

With SEO, things are a little harder. There is no formal qualification or regulatory body so finding out about the service provider’s experience is critical. Some things to look out for though include:

1. SEO isn’t their core business.
2. They might be a telemarketing company for whom offering SEO seems like a good idea and the logical next step. One day, they will even apply it to their own site.
3. Perhaps they’re a web design company who think nothing of shoving a link back to their own website in the footer of the sites they build for clients. They claim to do SEO but often overlook it, ‘though never intentionally.
4. A PR agency that is unsure what SEO means but tries to convince you it’s a good idea. They know it has something to do with ‘the web’.

If you have a website, the chances are you’ve made a significant investment to get to that stage. To then get the most from your site, you deserve to have a professional looking after your search engine marketing. In Hampshire, you have plenty of choice.

Find out more about our search engine marketing services in Hampshire and to see if we could help with your online marketing requirements.